The End of Normal 

by Stephanie Madoff Mack

December 6, 2011 by Penguin

Hardcover, 302 Pages

Borrowed/Compliments of Library

Review

I went into this book knowing about the back story and scandal of the Madoff's and with the knowledge that the family was and still is extremely wealthy, so I was prepared to enter into this life of glamour and luxury and knew that things in it would probably seem ridiculous to a non-millionaire like me. I guess what intrigued me to read this was the idea of seeing inside the Madoff scandal through the eyes of the widow and the aftermath of Madoff's decision to end his life. What surprised me though was not the careless use of the money flying everywhere, but the fact that Mack did not focus on the scandal or the suicide at all. The memoir was only focused on her and right from the start she tried to paint herself as someone who didn't portray the woman in this book. Take the truth of who you are out of the picture and I have a really hard time seeing the purpose behind this book besides the fact that you felt obliged to air your in-laws dirty laundry. I might know now that Madoff's mother is a racist greed monger and that his brother dates mean girls......but seriously what insight does that give to Mark Madoff's death?

Macks memoir doesn't scream heartbreak, she's not the grieving widow, she's more the jilted bride who lost her meal card and had to write a book for some fast cash and throw the Madoff family as far under the bus as she could.....even including the x-wife who had nothing to do with anything. Sounds harsh but that's exactly what I read on each page. There was a painful amount of whining and complaining about fights over how they would spend their next million, how he loved his kids from a previous marriage more than her, how his parents were nice but mean to her and how embarrassed she was after the whole Madoff scandal broke and was unable to use her credit cards for huge shopping sprees. Even after the suicide we still hear all the complaining, the brothers girlfriend who is mean, the x-wife who is meddling, the mother who is gone into zombie-mode and the horror, when Madoff's family (mainly his two oldest children) wanted some of his personal belongings and Mack wanted to keep them all for her own children. What I missed through all this was the anguish or any emotion over losing her husband, so instead of the reaction I thought I would feel (due to the suicide) my overall emotion reading through Mack's lamenting sort of resembled this clip from SpongeBob.

All of the me, me, me really grated on my nerves half way through the book. Mack's constant blame on everyone and everything seriously took away from the tragic act of Madoff's decision which in the end equaled a tangled mess of back and forth blame games, self-loathing, vacations and greed. The real tragedy is not the lack of money or the crap that needs to get divided, its the children Madoff left behind who will grow up without their father. Kids who will never have him to counteract the rumors and the spins on his character. No matter his crime, guilt or innocence, there was an alternative to suicide. Sadly what seems to be his legacy is a selfish family fighting over his watches and an unclear answer to the extent of his involvement with Bernard Madoff. Perhaps had the memoir been sincere and I saw more than a woman concerned with money, I would have felt bad for her. As much as Mack wanted me to see the "normal girl who lost everything", what Im left with is a question: What really happened to Mark Madoff and where in this story did he even fit in?

Rating

While I wouldn't recommend this novel, people who enjoy memoirs might like it. The writing is somewhat choppy with fragmented dialog and Contains: Whining, complaining, groaning and moaning, scandal, irresponsibility, bad parenting, plenty of vacations....and one page about a suicide.

2/5- Memoir-Biography